US Links of Controversial Korean Faith-Healer
Objective reporting about Lee and his "Manmin" Church is hard to come by, but critics (which include conservative Christian groups in Korea) have documented some of Lee's alleged teaching. Here's a sample: In 1992, Lee-Jaerock said that during a blood transfusion he shed out all blood received from his parents, and he then received sinless blood, so his original sin and committing sins had disappeared. And he insisted that it is just like the sinless blood of Jesus. (July 5 1998 Evening service) Less amusingly, Lee also claims to be able to heal the sick, and a recent report from ASSIST Ministries (a neo-Pentecostal news service that champions Lee in the USA) describes a "healing festival" led by his daughter in West Bengal which featured at least one person throwing away their medicine to show faith in their healing. That event was facilitated by an Asian branch of the Campus Crusade for Christ.
According to his church's website, Lee was born in 1943, and was converted after being cured of unspecified mortal diseases in 1974: In 1986, Rev. Dr. Lee was ordained as a pastor at the Annual Assembly of Jesus' Sungkyul Church of Korea, and four years later in 1990, his sermons began to be broadcast on the Far East Broadcasting Company, the Asia Broadcast Station, and the Washington Christian Radio System to Australia, Russia, the Philippines, and many more. David Prentice's presence at a Manmin-organised conference in the Philippines was explained by a press release carried by the American Family Association's Agape Press back in May: ...More than 500 physicians from 20 countries are expected to gather to discuss how spirituality and medicine go together and to present medical data about the works of divine healing at the Third International Christian Medical Conference on June 1-2 at Grand Convention Center in Cebu City, the Philippines. The conference -- with the theme "Spirituality & Medicine - III (Pursuit for Excellence)" -- will seek to enhance believers' faith while emphasizing the fact that God is indeed the Healer. International delegates and some of the best in their medical fields will exchange notes on divine healing and present more than ten cases backed by medical data in which patients received healing by prayer. Presented will be healing cases of first-degree disability, stomach cancer, Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, tennis elbow tendonitis, Celiac disease, infertility, facial burn, intra-cerebral hemorrhage, quadriplegia, spinal tuberculosis, and many other healing cases of incurable and terminal diseases. Keynote addresses will be delivered by Hon. Antonio Yapha, Jr., M.D., chairman of Committee on Health, House of Representatives, the Philippines, and Rev. Bishop Romeo Corpuz, Sr., president of All Creation Global Network Ministries, Inc. On June 2, Dr. David Prentice, Ph.D. (senior fellow for life sciences at Family Research Council, a Washington, DC-based think tank) will give a special lecture entitled: "Stem Cells, Cloning, and Other Biotechnologies: What Value for Human Life?" More information about the conference is available on the Internet through the World Christian Doctors Network. The World Christian Doctors Network exists purely to promote the alleged supernatural powers of Lee, and this is the body that organised the conference. ASSIST has been providing puff pieces on Lee for several years. Back in 2003 the news service covered a healing festival in Russia, which featured a piece of rather unimpressive photographic evidence of a miracle healing. At the time, a Russian doctor was quoted as saying he intended to publish a scientific study that would prove Lee's miraculous abilities. I contacted Dan Wooding, who runs ASSIST, for more information. Wooding, who, although somewhat credulous is an honest person, forwarded my request to Johnny Kim, who deals with Lee's PR and who has written some of the pieces published by ASSIST. After I received no response, I asked Wooding if he might like to consider consulting someone with another perspective: perhaps someone from CSICOP, or, if he preferred, a co-religionist such as the British evangelical Anglican Peter May, who has written critically about Morris Cerullo. Sadly, the only reply I got to that was a cryptic notice that I had been removed from ASSIST's subscription service (which was odd, since I wasn't on it).
Recently, Lee made an appearance in Madison Square. ASSIST duly reported that New York State Senator Ruben Diaz proclaimed the recognition of Dr. Lee's ministry on behalf of the State of New York.However, protests by several Korean Christian groups outside the venue were not deemed worthy of a mention. Lee's presence in the USA is also facilitated by involvement with a television station, the Global Christian Network. Wooding claims that the New York launch of the channel was attended by a supernatural glowing cross above the Empire State Building; he even has a photograph.
US Links of Controversial Korean Faith-Healer | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
US Links of Controversial Korean Faith-Healer | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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